Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa: Divinity or Madness?

Ramakrishna Animation used in the video:    • जब रामकृष्ण उनके गुरु से मिले।रामकृष्...  

In 19th-century Bengal, there lived a boy called Gadadhar, whose life sounds like a work of fiction. One of India’s most revered saints he once held a sword to his neck in his endless devotion towards the goddess Kali. He rolled around naked, rebuked social behaviour, got lost in states of trance, and broke endless expectations. He lost control of his body and mind, not once or twice but several times. Many believed that madness had gripped him.
Gadadhar later came to be known as Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, a mystic and spiritual leader. He tried all sects of Hinduism, converted to Islam, then Christianity, and later died of throat cancer, but not without leaving a thriving order of people dedicated to his cause. Was he really mad or so divine that it is beyond rational understanding? Do even the saintliest of all people have madness within them? How do you explain this life full of miracles, madness, and ecstasy?

Early Childhood and Initial ecstasies

In a small village of Bengal, in the middle of palm trees, ponds, and rice fields, called Kamarkupur, there lived an orthodox Brahmin couple – the Chattopdhyayas. Living their life in poverty they were stern devotees of Rama. The father at the age of sixty went on a pilgrimage to Gaya. In Gaya, lord Vishnu visited him and said, “I am about to be reborn for the salvation of the world”.
Moreover, if you don’t believe in coincidences and their messages, that might change. Around the same time that the man was visited by Vishnu, the woman was being graced by the almighty Shiva back in Kamarkupur. The divine image of Shiva in a temple opposite her cottage came to life right in front of her eyes. The woman – Chandramani was overwhelmed and suddenly fainted. She conceived by the grace of god and heard voices – that she carried a God.
The child who would later be known as Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was born on February 18, 1836. He was called Gadadhar Chattopadhyaya. Although the parents had been overwhelmed with visions before his birth, the child’s life till the age of six was as ordinary as it could be. Then one day in the summer of 1884, as he was munching a small ball of rice, he saw a great black cloud spreading rapidly until he was covered with them overhead, and he experienced his first spiritual ecstasy. In Ramakrishna’s own words, he explained later –
“Suddenly at the edge of the clouds, a flight of snow-white cranes passed over my head. The contrast was so beautiful that my spirit wandered far away. I lost consciousness and fell to the ground. The puffed rice was scattered. Somebody picked me up and carried me home in their arms. An excess of joy and emotion overcame me… This was the first time that I was seized with ecstasy.”

#ramakrishnaparamahamsa #vedanta #swamivivekananda #spirituality

Script: Riya

Voiceover: Abhinav Banerjee

Edit: Harsh

Original Score: Epidemic music x Original score

Source:
Rolland Romain, ‘Prophets of The New India’, Cassell and Company Ltd, London.
Maharaj Ayon, ‘Infinite Paths to Infinite Reality: Sri Ramakrishna & Cross-Cultural Philosophy of Religion, Oxford University Press, New York.
‘Life of Sri Ramakrishna: Compiled from Various Sources’, Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati, Almora, Himachal Pradesh.
Shourie Arun, ‘Two Saints: Speculations Around and About Ramakrishna Paramahamsa & Ramana Maharishi’, HarperCollins Publishers, India.
McConnel Marion Mugs, ‘Letters from the Yoga Masters’, North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, California.
Gupta Mahendranath, Disciples, Trans. Nikhilananda Swami, ‘The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna: Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita’, The Ramakrishna Order.
Tejasananda Swami, ‘A Short Life of Sri Ramakrishna’, Advaita Ashram, Calcutta.

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